PROJECT: Echoes
by Crysi102
Summary: The memories are like echoes... fleeting, yet powerful. They threaten to erase the line between what is real and what is not. But these people, they are lights in the darkness, making the echoes retreat, keeping everything in focus. However, the stronger the light, the darker the Shadow...
1. Echoes

**Echoes**

 _._

 _Flowers_.

A beautiful tree against a darkened sky. It's strangely peaceful. Except my hands are not supposed to be made of metal.

 _This isn't right._

 _._

 _War._

There's a town in the distance. It seems familiar. Home? It's burning. The village is dying. I have to go help… but my body doesn't want to move.

 _This isn't real._

An armored warrior approaches me. My body can't move, despite my struggles. I'm tied down. Everything in me screams to run, to escape.

 _WAKE UP!_

 _._

 _Fear._

The warrior's—old man's?—glowing orange eyes seem to laugh.

"Memory extraction can be a painful business, my boy."

 _._

 _Pain._

Something digs into my arm; a sharp needle sends pain through my entire body. I scream, consciousness slipping.

 _._

 _Power._

It's as if everything clicks into place, everything simply becomes... right. The man screams something, but now my arms are free, flaming with power, energy, destruction. I have to let it out. So I do.

 _._

 _Darkness._

 _._

 _Peace._

 _._

* * *

 **A/N: So, here I'll keep this short. Sorry it's been basically a year since I posted. Things happened, all cool now.**

 **This is an apology for not having bigger things done. Based on the PROJECT: OVERDRIVE cinematic. It's all written, so keep tuned for the next few weeks to read more. I'll wait until the end for any other notes.**

 **Thanks for reading, friends. I'll see you at the end!**


	2. Waking

**Waking**

.

"I found him."

.

Light.

Something splits the darkness in front of me, peeling away the pod I'm in.

 _Did I fall asleep in that?_

The hands lift me up, pull me to my feet, and I can't stand. I'm too weak. My vision swims, my head feels numb.

"…disoriented. He just woke up, give us a minute."

The person lowers me to the ground, a break I'm more than happy to take.

"Are you okay?"

Is she talking to me? Her hand rests on my shoulder, her angular pink mask seems like a light at the end of a dark tunnel, guiding me from the fog. Gentle. Kind.

"Are you alright?"

I manage to nod.

"Stay here."

 _Where's here?_

A building. Destroyed, flaming in places. Wires and wall panels lay in ruin, machines and tools scattered and twisted. Something tells me I did this.

 _How…?_

A soothing sensation washes over my arm, and I see the metal there heal itself in a soft light. My head feels straight again.

"Regeneration. A good quality."

I look up at the woman in front of me. She's holding something. She raises the sword—testing the balance—swings it once, and offers me the hilt.

"A good blade, but it better fits your hand than mine."

The blade is long, beautiful, and as orange as the light that healed my arm. It fits perfectly in my hand, like it was made for me. It was just like the blade I held that day when the shadow rose over my shoulder and the city burned to the ground. I turned to face my attacke-

"Stay with me friend."

The woman was there again, hand on my shoulder.

"You remember, don't you?"

.

Memories.

That's what they were.

"They will not stop coming, but you must learn to tell the difference between memory and reality."

"Who-?" My voice was ragged, unusual.

"I am called Fiora."

"Where-"

"There will be more time for questions later. We must leave."

She retreated, picking up a thin pink blade.

"Come with me."

I stood slowly, my familiar sword clasped tightly in my hand.


	3. Exit

**Exit**

.

The doors blew outward, and Fiora led me onto a large platform. Smoke rose from vents alongside the pathways, and the whole area was engulfed in a bright golden light. My eyes quickly adjusted from the dim interior of the destroyed lab.

A city.

This was a huge golden city.

Neon lights— _how did I know what they were?_ —covered every surface. Sprawling towers reached into the sky, racing each other to new heights. It was bright, it was beautiful, it was-

 _An echo of a past time._

A darker city, ruined, desolated… Shadows surrounding me… Screams of the dying… a masked warrior right behin—

"Hey."

"I'm sorry, I just…"

"Don't let the memories consume you, my friend. Stay in the here and now."

Fiora's voice was soft, calming. I felt my mind clear.

She froze, looking up. Shoving me forward, she ducked behind me. She cursed as twin clangs sounded through the air.

"Sure as hell took you long enough Duelist."

Fiora had stood, facing whatever was behind us. I followed her lead. There was a shadow, all red lights and twin blades above the door. An ambush?

There was also a new person on the platform; the one who had spoken. He carried twin guns—another weapon I felt I shouldn't know—and carried himself with a sort of confident arrogance. Several long white coils of hair from his mask made his movements seem… exaggerated.

"He just got out of Analysis, Purifier. If I remember correctly, you were out of it for two days after waking. It's surprising he's even on his feet," Fiora snapped.

"Well, get him out of here. If he's that fresh out of An-sis, we can't let SHADOW get to him."

The mentioned shadow extended threatening red blades from his arms, and the gunman's twin guns lit up in a bright orange.

"Move," the gunman commanded.

We did.


	4. Instinct

**Instinct**

.

There was hardly any time to be surprised when the edge of the platform began moving down—an elevator. How I knew that was also not to be questioned. The Shadow was leaping toward us again, seeming to vanish and reappear it was moving so fast. The gunman fired several shots before leaping to the elevator below.

"Shit, he's fast!"

There was a red blur as the Shadow landed in the middle of us, leaping toward Fiora. Instinct led me to block, and my instinct was right. The Shadow's red blade stopped just short of my face, and then he was on the gunman, dodging the bullets as if they were ten times slower than him. I blocked another blade.

Fiora and the gunman seemed to be having difficulty keeping up. Sure the Shadow was fast, but he wasn't THAT fast.

A strong overhead strike from my sword held the Shadow in place just long enough for Fiora to dash in with a powerful thrust… that missed entirely as the Shadow reappeared by the gunman. Fiora met him in the air, and the Shadow spun around more gunshots. One thrown shuriken knocked a gun away, and a second sliced into the gunman's side. I swung where he would land, but he blocked, immediately throwing me backward and striking at my allies again. The gunman was down on one knee, grasping his side. Fiora tumbled to the ground.

He was too fast.

Too… Fast.

 _Just like before._

Just like the masked warrior from the memory.

The memory echoed through me. Fighting for my life against a foe that seemed unstoppable.

The Shadow turned away from the other two, leveling his gaze at me from across the platform.

I had strike first.

 _I had to be faster._

It rushed through me, an echo of an echo of real power. My entire being hummed…

No…

I screamed.

Everything was slow… or maybe…

 _Maybe I simply moved faster._

The echo radiated through me as I leapt forward to meet the Shadow. I heard Fiora and the gunman scream. Our blades met.

 _Light._


	5. PROJECT

**PROJECT**

.

 _Flowers._

A beautiful tree against a darkened sky. Petals fall like tears from its branches. I reach out with my metal hand and catch one gently in my palm.

.

 _The echo ends._

The Shadow is nowhere to be found.

.

"Well shit."

"I told you this would be worth our time, Lucian."

"Well call me impressed," the gunman chuckled as he picked up his other gun.

"What is all of this?" I ask. "How did I do that?"

"Look, friend," Fiora said softly. "I can't tell you what this means, I can't tell you who you are, and I can't help you with those memories that are drifting around in your head. I can't give you answers, but we can help you start looking."

Before I could say anything, the gunman Lucian spoke up. "We're all in the same boat as you, kid. Woke up, no idea where we were, random jumble of memories bouncing in our heads, and a bonded weapon nearby. None of us know what's going on, and we're all looking for those answers. We can help you look too."

"Who was that Shadow?" I asked. "He's like us?"

"Corrupted," Lucian spat. "SHADOW is like our counterpart, they take people like us and make them dark, evil…"

"Dangerous," Fiora added.

"We can protect you from him too," Lucian chuckled. "Not that you need much protecting."

I nodded. These people seemed safe, seemed kind, and trustworthy. "I'll join you."

"Good, let's get going then," Lucian turned to walk down the new path the platform had arrived at.

"Wait," Fiora called. Lucian stopped, turning to the pink swordswoman. She spoke in her sing-song voice. "One final issue is at hand. There is one thing we all know when we wake. A name. I am Fiora, he is Lucian. The others all knew their names as well."

The two looked at me expectantly.

I glanced at my sword, considering how it fit perfectly in my hand. It seemed to sing with echoes. I honed in on them. Echoes of places, things, people who once existed. Phantoms of friends, family, foes… and a name drifted through them all.

"Yi."

Fiora nodded.

"Alright Yi, welcome to PROJECT."

.

.

.

.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, I said I'd be back at the end of this, and so I am. I didn't want to disrupt the fic with my own useless ramblings.**

 **So far, this is as far as the story goes. It's the end of the OVERDRIVE cinematic, so this is where I'm ending it. However, if enough people are interested (which for me is basically one or two people who say they want to read more), I may continue this much in the way I continued HUMAN a while back. ECHOES would take priority over things like Balancing the Void, which is still being finalized (it's coming, I promise you all), and I'll have to think on how to do Your League a bit more after the lore rework... I have ideas, but I'm not sure that particular story will work out.**

 **In any case, thanks for reading this short little drabble. I'd post a link to my youtube (which is where you can find me more often than not) but FFN links are pathetic and I dislike trying to make them work. I'd love to hear from those of you who read this, be it in a PM, a Review, or anything else. Tell me what you think, and if you want to read more. The continuation would add in things like Yasuo, Leona, Viktor, Jayce, and Ezreal, and it wouldn't take long to throw together, I think... I have a rough outline, and it would just be a matter of fleshing it out.**

 **In any case, until I hear from you again, thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day!**

 **-Crysi**


	6. Recollections (Sequel Announcement!)

**IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ**

 **.**

 **A/N: The following is an excerpt from _PROJECT: Recollections_ , the sequel to _PROJECT: Echoes_.**

 ** _Recollections_ will be a separate story that picks up where this one left off, so go ahead and look at my profile for it. As of now, the first two chapters are typed and ready to go, but I'm going to space the updates apart for a while. **

**I wanted to let you all know that I was continuing this story, though the format will be a bit different (mostly not being all first person like Echoes is right now.) Because of the drastic change in format, I decided to separate the two, leaving _Echoes_ as a complete piece, and letting _Recollections_ exist separately. I figured I would point you all to where _Recollections_ was forming, since quite a few of you are following _Echoes_ right now. **

**There will be more information in _Recollections'_ first chapter.**

 **See you there, hopefully. For now, enjoy this preview of _PROJECT: Recollections_.**

 **.**

 **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Introductions**

 **Or: Of Caramel and Pineapples**

* * *

 _._

 _Flames, destruction, darkness, death_

 _Anger._

 _Everyone was dead._

 _Everyone was…_

 _He would kill them all. Every last one._

 _He was dead._

 _Reborn with a thirst, remade with a new cause._

 _Vengence.  
_

 _._

 _._

 _._

* * *

 _._

Yi woke in a cold sweat, snapping awake to a curtain of darkness. The wall seemed to sink in on him, closing closer, and he fumbled to push it back, to escape before it contained him, encased him, consumed him.

He ended up falling, landing hard on his shoulder, his lower body tangled in the thin sheets of the alcove-like bed he had been resting in. His head was ringing, so he lay there for a minute, reorienting.

"Graceful."

Yi looked up at Lucian sitting across the room in an alcove-bed of his own, cleaning his dual guns. It looked like he was sitting on the ceiling. Yi growled and wrestled himself from the blankets, righting himself to sit on the floor. Yi glared at the gunman, though he wasn't sure if the emotions were visible through his mask.

Lucian seemed to notice Yi's disgruntled glare, and the gunman laughed. "Don't worry, new kid, you'll get used to it." If the man's mouth was visible, it would have been smirking.

Yi frowned. "You did?"

"Sure. These beds are a hell of a lot better than the Containment Pods us PROJECTS wake up in," he waved a gun halfheartedly. "It's weird for the first few days out of An-sys, but you'll get used to it."

"An-sys? What is that? You mentioned it last-" Yi trailed off as he realized he didn't know what day it was.

"Two nights ago. You've been out for a while, kid," Lucian chuckled. "An-sys is a pretty complicated deal. You should ask Leo or Yas about it. They know way more than I do."

"Who?"

"I keep forgetting you're new here. Haven't met the gang," Lucain motioned to the door. "They should all be out there. Yas would normally be snoring like a bastard in the bunk above you, but sometimes he's up early. You can go meet them yourself. I have a few things to finish here."

Yi nodded, staggering slightly as he stood. As he moved toward the door, something pulled at his mind, like something was missing. He glanced back at the small room and eight alcove-bunks contained within and his eyes settled on his sword. It was leaning between two of the beds, inactive and taking the form of a thin metal rod. He quickly retrieved it, settling it into the strap at his waist. Lucian nodded approvingly at the action, and turned back to his guns.

Holding his inactive blade tightly, Yi left the small sleeping room, stepping into a decent size room. It was sparsely furnished, but had a small kitchen, a table set for six, a four person couch, and a large orange-bordered holographic screen projected onto the wall. Two people were present; Fiora and another person wearing armor so heavy it was hard to discern a gender. The other person wore a bright yellow visor and had one arm protectively on a large hunk of metal beside them as they watched the hologram screen.

"What was that thud earlier? Luci not doing anything strange to you, is he?" the yellow person asked. The voice was female.

"Leona," Fiora snapped. The other laughed. Fiora turned away from what she was doing at the kitchenette and turned to Yi. "I am very sorry about that. She's not normally so uncivilized."

"It's fine," Yi said, ignoring the glare Fiora shot at Leona.

"Well then, Fi, you want to introduce me to your rescue case?"

.

 _[To be continued in PROJECT: Recollections]_

.

* * *

 **A/N: Again, this is a preview of my next story, _PROJECT: Recollections_. Please see my profile for more details. :D**


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